Fig. 8. and Fig. 9.
High and small heels are therefore quite unsuitable. The heel-piece ought to be as low and broad as possible.”
Further and more explicit knowledge on this subject may be obtained from Dr Meyer’s
excellent little pamphlet entitled ‘Procrustes ante portas,’ very ably translated into English by Mr J. T. Craig, L.R.C.E., under the title of ‘Why the Shoe Pinches.’
DIURE′SIS. See Urine.
DIURET′ICS. Syn. Diuretica. Medicines which promote the secretion of urine. The principal diuretics are—aqueous fluids, which act by increasing the watery portion of the blood, and—substances which promote the action of the kidneys. Most of the first produce copious diuresis if the skin is kept cool. Among the last are acetate, bitartrate, and nitrate of potassa; oils of juniper, turpentine, cajeput, and copaiba; dilute spirit, and sweet spirits of nitre; decoction of common broom, &c.
DIVIDIVI. An astringent substance imported from Jamaica. It contains above 5% of tannin; whilst gall-nuts contain less than 3·5%, and the best oak-bark only 1·35%. Hence its value in tanning.
DOBEREINER’S LAMP. A portable apparatus for obtaining instantaneous light by the action of a jet of hydrogen on a small piece of spongy platinum.
DOCHMIUS DUODENALIS. An intestinal parasitic worm. Its length is from 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 an inch and its breadth about 1⁄60th of an inch. It is furnished with hooklets. It is found in the duodenum, the ileum, and the jejunum of man, and Greisinger seems to have pretty conclusively established that it is the cause of the disease so prevalent in Egypt, and known as the Egyptian chlorosis. Anemia, dysentery, and hemorrhoids and liver diseases are also frequently caused by it amongst the natives of Arabia, Brazil, and Northern Italy. In India it is also stated to give rise to some very alarming maladies. Leuchart affirms that it obtains an entrance into the system through drinking impure water.